Battle of Majuba Hill

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Battle of Majuba

The Battle of Majuba, from the Illustrated London News

Date	February 27, 1881
Location	Majuba Hill, near Volksrust, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
Result	Decisive Boer Victory

Combatants

Transvaal Boers

Great Britain

Commanders

Stephanus Roos, Danie Malan, Joachim Ferreira

Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley †

Strength

400-500 men

405 infantry

Casualties

1 dead
5 wounded

92 dead
134 wounded
59 captured

First Boer War
Bronkhorstspruit – Laing's Nek – Schuinshoogte – Majuba Hill

The skirmish at Majuba Hill (near Volksrust, South Africa) on 27 February 1881 was a resounding victory for the Boers. Major-General Sir George Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night of February 26-27, 1881. His motive for occupying the hill remains unclear. The Boers believed that he may have been attempting to outflank their positions at Laing's Nek and formed a group of attack parties to drive the British off the hill.

The bulk of the 405 British soldiers occupying the hill were 171 men of the 58th Regiment with 141 men of the 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders. General Colley had brought no artillery up to the summit, nor did he order his men to dig in. The Boers quickly formed a group of storming parties, led by Nicolas Smit, from an assortment of volunteers from various commandos, totaling at least 450 men, maybe more, to attack the hill.

By daybreak at 4:30, the 92nd Highlanders covered a wide perimeter of the summit, while a handful occupied Gordon's Knoll on the right side of the summit. During then, three Boer storming groups of 100-200 men each began a slow advance up the hill. The groups were led by Field Cornet Stephanus Roos, Commandant D.J.K. Malan, and Commandant Joachim Ferreira. The Boers, being more professional marksmen, kept the British on the slopes at bay while groups crossed the open ground to attack Gordon's Knoll, where at 12:45 Ferreira's men opened up a tremendous fire on the exposed knoll and captured it. Over the next hour, the Boers poured over the top of the British line and engaged the British troops at long range, refusing hand-to-hand combat action, picking off the British one by one. Under great confusion, and with their casualties mounting, Colley ordered a retreat just before he was gunned down himself by Boer marksmen. The rest of the British force fled down the rear slopes of Majuba where more were hit by the Boer marksmen who then lined the summit and shot at the retreating British troops. Two hundred and eighty Britons were killed, captured or wounded; the Boers lost one man killed.

Although small in scope, the battle is historically significant for three reasons:

It led to the signing of a peace treaty and later the Pretoria Convention, between the British and the newly created South African Republic, ending the First Anglo-Boer War.
The fire and movement tactics employed by the Boers, especially Commandant Smit in his final assault on the hill, were years ahead of their time.
Coupled with the defeats at Laing's Nek and Schuinshoogte, this third crushing defeat at the hands of the Boers ratified the strength of the Boers in the minds of the British, arguably to have consequences in the Second Anglo-Boer War. "Remember Majuba" became a rallying cry.

The British losses were 92 killed (including Colley), 134 wounded, and 59 captured. Incredibly, only two Boers were killed in the attack, and six more were wounded which shows the very poor marksmanship of the British and the excellent use of camouflage the Boers used to support their men in the attack. Of the two Boers killed, H. Bekker died on the scene, and J. Groenewald died from his wounds two days later.

The South African Military History Society Journal link below gives a detailed account of all phases of the battle.